PC Peripherals why do u love MX5021??

sunbiz_3000 said:
Is that true?? Is all music stereo?? So...the sounds from different surround speakers isnt real?? Thats enlightening.... I need some more knowledge :huh: . Please share some more info here on how surround never works :ashamed:

I dont like CNET reviews...but found that they reviewed the MX5021 Altec Lansing MX5021 Reviews. PC Speakers Reviews by CNET.
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CNET reviewers are deaf :p. Look elsewhere... the web is full of MX5021 reviews. As long as you are playing redbook cds, music is always stereo. There are a few 5.1 DVD-Audio discs of live recordings but other than that, its all pure pristine stereo :D.
 
greenhorn said:
since when did musicians start playing music from all around you :S
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Since I was a child I've heard musicians playing around me... but thats a different story... What music do u listen to (greenhorn & Chaos)??

Chaos said:
CNET reviewers are deaf :p. Look elsewhere... the web is full of MX5021 reviews. As long as you are playing redbook cds, music is always stereo. There are a few 5.1 DVD-Audio discs of live recordings but other than that, its all pure pristine stereo :D.
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I listen to yanni Acropolis concert (always thought 5.1) ...its among my fav... thats what I was wondering if I was hearing sounds that were never made !! :lol:

I have also heard the "Dynaudio Confidence C2"... Amazing speakers dude!! But I guess even selling a kidney wont get me those.... So havent ever thought of them!!
 
SOME classical recordings are recorded in 5.1, and newer stuff is sometimes being recorded in 5.1 (basically ull get a dualdisc with a stereo mix and a 5.1 mix)

with a 5.1 mix your basically just panning instruments/vocals in a 3d pattern, which makes equalization much easier while mixing, cause then you dont have to EQ the hell out of a particular instrument to make it heard
 
Just about everything in the book... Rock/Metal/Jazz/Classical as long as it is not mainstream pop pop, its fine with me :p.
 
the only justifiable case which i remember was a SACD review i read in Gramophone, in which the whole thing was played back over the rear speakers to simulate listening to an organ in a church.
 
greenhorn said:
the only justifiable case which i remember was a SACD review i read in Gramophone, in which the whole thing was played back over the rear speakers to simulate listening to an organ in a church.
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actually now most classical recordings are done in 5.1, to give a more "concert" like experience... hell J-POP *cringe* is also now recorded in 5.1, where the vocals/bass are on center channel/ drums panned either frontleft/front right, and instruments (whatver they might use in J-POP :ashamed: panned to the rear)
 
naah... country/jazz is my piece of cake :D People like Nat King cole and Mark Knopler somehow just dont show up in modern music these days .. people like Norah Jones are a sad exception :(

but yes , sometimes i do listen to marilyn manson/rob zombie and a whole bunch of other death metal. but then again then I'm not in the mood for audio fidelity

I do own quite a few surround music discs , including floyd's "the wall" , but not because they are surround :p , but because my soundcard seems to like 48Khz encoded stuff better than music CD's :(. The moment i listend to the DVD audio disc that came free with my card , i knew it was a gimmick.... i mean, it was ping pong surround all around ... ordinary folk would be impressed though :p
 
^ r those even speakers?? Wow....Im a poor guy to afford something that looks like a snail and can play guitar/piano !!

Still havent heard from Chaos if he still thinks music is only stereo!! Also some more knowledge from Chaos if u dont mind... I wanna discuss music in here !!
 
Powersurge said:
actually now most classical recordings are done in 5.1, to give a more "concert" like experience... hell J-POP *cringe* is also now recorded in 5.1, where the vocals/bass are on center channel/ drums panned either frontleft/front right, and instruments (whatver they might use in J-POP :ashamed: panned to the rear)
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yeah.. most classical releases use surround to just augment the ambience. heck , a lot of them are just re-releases of their old quad masters. but the recording in question turned the whole soundstage around . ie , the music was all played from behind, not the front

btw, there were two schools of thought among recording engineers ... one wanted to use the surround for just ambience cues, while the other wanted to place the listener on stage with the artists. as unrealistic as it may seem, option #2 seems to be the one people are impressed the most with. i guess people having paid for all those expensive surround speakers want to hear something playing over them distinctly :lol:
 
Hmmm....interesting :devil:

O, where to start?

Appreciation of Sound Quality

Sound has various properties, depending on which it appears good or bad to listeners. Now I'm by no means an expert of this (in fact most of what I going tto say I've learned only thru reading, not hearing :ashamed:).
First, there's the Timbre of the music, which refers to the naturalness of the sound. i.e., a piano should sound like a real piano.
Then, theres speed - this refers to how fast the speaker responds to a fast changing input signal. ( A fast speaker doesn't mean it'll play a 200hz note at 150hz :p)
Then, there's dynamics. This is the difference in levels between the loudest and softest sounds. It takes a really great speaker to be able to reproduce a single violin and a 100-man orchestra equally well.
After this, speakers are usually evaluated as to how they handle the highs, mids and lows. Almost all entry level (read affordable) speakers have to trade-off somewhere. Hence some speakers will have velvety highs but boomy bass. Some will have tight bass but muddy mids, etc.
Audiophiles have coined numerous terms to describe the sound of speakers, like airy, laid back, warm, lush, transparent, etc......

Now for the fun part :D All the above can refer to a single speaker or 10 :tongue: Sound 'Quality' has nothing to do with number of speakers. Why speakers moved from mono to stereo to multichannel - is simply for two things; Soundstaging and Imaging.

These terms, in a nutshell, refer to the ability of a speaker to create a 3d holographic model of the music event, which depending on the recording, would either take you to the musicians, or bring the musicians to you. With properly recorded tracks, and on properly setup speakers, all musicians would magically seem to appear in front of you. If you close your eyes, you would almost "see" the lead singer in front, the lead guitarist on your right, the bassist to you left, and the drummer at the back. :D It is as if a window has opened in your room which leads directly to the stage. Your system and the setup would determine the width, height and depth of this window.

But with stereo (and with trifield), a window is all you get. This is where multichannel tries to cash in. Instead of bringing the musicians to you, it takes you to them! However, common sense would tell you that since 80% of the world's music has been recorded for stereo, there simply is no surround info present. It depends on the sound engineer now to conjure up a palatable surround mix, and from the reviews I've read, most have failed badly :(

Bahh....I'm sleepy now. :p

Will be continued if required.....
 
greenhorn said:
yeah.. most classical releases use surround to just augment the ambience. heck , a lot of them are just re-releases of their old quad masters. but the recording in question turned the whole soundstage around . ie , the music was all played from behind, not the front

btw, there were two schools of thought among recording engineers ... one wanted to use the surround for just ambience cues, while the other wanted to place the listener on stage with the artists. as unrealistic as it may seem, option #2 seems to be the one people are impressed the most with. i guess people having paid for all those expensive surround speakers want to hear something playing over them distinctly :lol:
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I think both the schools of thought are useful in different kinds of music...

I remember one of my uncle telling me that when he was at the Taj Mahal for yanni's concert, the speakers were so good that he felt being on stage and listening to yanni...coz at all the ends of the open area there were speakers echoing sound to every1!!

Very well written "zhopudey"... exactly what I've been trying to say. To my ears (read damaged) and brain (sledgehammered) the Imaging of sound gives a high... I have always heard so much of live music (real musicians playing and not on tape/CD/DVD...) that it feels nice with surround... Im sure in less than 10 yrs all music will have multi-channel info...coz real music is the best!!
 
sunbiz_3000 said:
I think both the schools of thought are useful in different kinds of music...

I remember one of my uncle telling me that when he was at the Taj Mahal for yanni's concert, the speakers were so good that he felt being on stage and listening to yanni...coz at all the ends of the open area there were speakers echoing sound to every1!!
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FYI, greenhorn was referring to 5.1 recording techniques, which is very very very very different to live sound, which you are referring to.

oh, and i hope this sorta tangential discussion from how the thread started dosent confuse you even more about teh speakers you want to procure :D
 
sunbiz_3000 said:
I remember one of my uncle telling me that when he was at the Taj Mahal for yanni's concert, the speakers were so good that he felt being on stage and listening to yanni...coz at all the ends of the open area there were speakers echoing sound to every1!!
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for starters, yanni is more commercial than classical.. I would even go so far as to say that its mostly elevator music :p, and the way your uncle describes seems to be the wrong way to enjoy a concert. there are loads of well known concert venues in the world, and i hope there are some in india .you ought to listen to a good performance in a good venue ... then only will you know what these surround systems are "trying" to do, and realize that they're nowhere near.

Bottom line, I'd rather have a very clear , but small window than a rather blurry, misaligned, and clouded panoramic view
 
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